Duff
This may help explain the national IQ show last night, unfortunatly
the kiwi group in the ch9 studio were to score the lowest IQ
of the groups in the studio.
AAP
More than three million check on IQ
More than three million Australians tuned in to see how they smart they were in the first attempt at a national IQ test.
Channel Nine said the National IQ Test 2002 telecast last night was the most watched program on television this year with a peak audience of 3,138,032 viewers tuning in to participate.
The program averaged 2.79 million viewers between 7.30pm and 11.15pm, eclipsing the World Cup soccer final and the Big Brother final eviction as the most watched show of the year.
More than 43,000 people registered to do the test online, while another 20,000 sent SMS answers on their mobile phones.
There were many controversial results from the program, with the average male IQ of 113 comparing to 108 for women.
Canberra was the smartest city, with an average IQ of 114, ahead of Perth (112), Brisbane (112), Sydney, Adelaide and Hobart (110), Darwin (108) and Melbourne (107).
But academic Karen Brooks questioned the program's legitimacy and was critical of the show's use of groups such as blondes, builders, teachers, students and Kiwis as a stereotype of intelligence.
Dr Brooks, a lecturer in popular culture at the University of the Sunshine Coast, was also concerned that those who recorded high IQ scores were treated like winners.
"It was interesting to see knowledge presented as sport and here we had an IQ test presented almost like a game show," she said.
"On the one hand that could be perceived as really healthy, but there was more in that that concerned me and makes me still believe it was quite unhealthy."
Channel Nine said the IQ test, devised by Professor Con Stough of Swinburne University in Melbourne, was intended for entertainment purposes only "and did not purport to definitively analyse an individual's IQ".
Dr Brooks, who has an IQ of 147, said the groupings used in the show were appalling.
"The blondes were all women and the builders were all men," she said.
"That to me wasn't about being blonde - it was about being a blonde woman and a bimbo.
"Himbos and bimbos they might as well have called them."
Dr Brooks said the IQ test was flawed because of the time constraints with each question and because it included general knowledge questions.
"It didn't allow for imagination or creativity," she said.
Dr Brooks said a more relevant test of intelligence was the EQ (emotional quotient) test which measures intellect and social development.